Per their recent eerie decampment, the company find themselves strangely bereft of their usual gear. Aside from very worn and grubby shirts, hose, and smalls, the company have the following possessions:

Zem has his axe, and his pack full of gold upon his shoulders. But that is all he has with him.

Karl's has his mail and his trusty sword.

Fried is carrying his sword and shield, but nothing more.

Leudigar has the silvered Bleakmass blade and his horsebow (with half a dozen arrows) in its holster.

There are no packs or supplies or other gear between them all.

Note that you've already cashed in the XP for bringing the treasure haul back to "civilisation" (frosty though it was). You have a pack full of gold to get geared up again... you just need to find somewhere to spend it. And food and water.

Leudigar leads the hungry company off at a brisk pace. Zem the dwarf is burdened by his heavy pack of gold, and it quickly become apparent that he will be holding everyone else back. On the upside, it gives the longer limbed men ample time to forage for water sources and anything that might be edible.

Water is not difficult to find; they pass small pools and trickling brooks almost hourly. But food is another matter. Although Leudigar is adept at identifying edibles along the way; these meagre findings make for scant rations. The best hope of a decent feed seems to be in shooting or trapping some of the hares that seem to populate the plain. Unfortunately, these are skittish in the extreme, and dart off at even the slightest hint of risk. As the sun approaches its zenith on this mild day, there is no sign of civilisation, and everyone is feeling a mighty hunger. Zem in particular is flustered for bearing all the load and pushing hard to keep pace with the men...

Zem would keep his slow, grim pace with a stoicism that says it all."Gold" he would breath and keep going. When Freid offers to carry the pack Zem would scratch his beard and pause. "I suppose or we could divide things up a bit."